Obi, LP Lawmakers Criticize Police As Abure Regains Freedom

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, and the LP caucus in the House of Representatives have faulted the manner the National Chairman of the party, Julius Abure, was arrested in Edo State, describing it as ‘distasteful, cruel, dehumanising and abuse of democratic ethos’.

Abure, who was arrested on Wednesday in Benin by operatives of Zone 5 police headquarters, was released on bail at about 2 am on Thursday.

Abure, speaking on Thursday after his release, linked his arrest to what he described as a LP’s struggle to liberate the country.

Abure said,”After the general elections, they have been trying to instigate crises in the party; they try to bring false accusations against us. They have talked about forgery against us at a time when it didn’t work, they came with embezzlement. Any persons that are aggrieved in the party, they go and instigate them to write a petition against us. And the irony is that the police even act on those and at the end of the day, they discover that those things are false.”

He said that while he was released on bail, the police continued to detain the Edo State Chairman of the Labour Party, Kelly Ogbaloi, and the youth leader.

Obi, reacting via his official X account, said he found Abure’s arrest disturbing and that those who were tasked with upholding the rule of law were the ones breaking it.

He said, “Like many Nigerians, I observed the distasteful national television news reports detailing the humiliating arrest of the National Chairman of the Labour Party, Barrister Julius Abure, earlier today in Benin City, Edo State.

“My stance on this matter remains unwavering but does not explain watching the distressing image of our national chairman lying on the ground in the name of arrest. This act is undesirable, demeaning and unequivocally intolerable and must be condemned by any decent and civilised mind within the context of our present civic landscape in Nigeria.” Also, the LP caucus in the House of Representatives, on Thursday, in a statement by its leader, Victor Ogene, described Abure’s arrest as cruel, dehumanising and an abuse of democratic ethos.

They called on the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to investigate the underlying issues “that have put the police in a bad light.”

“There is no excuse for the manner the police conducted the ill-timed and misleading arrest of LP National Chairman. If there was any need for the police to take Abure in, a simple invitation would have sufficed,” the lawmakers said.